According to the gallery's plaque, the marble sculpture was first modelled from life in 1875 and cast in plaster. Boehm considered it "the best thing I ever did." The bronze in Cheyne Walk, also erected in 1881 but unveiled in 1882, is described here as a "replica." Fred Kaplan lists the marble version first as well, describing the one in Cheyne Walk as "a related bronze statue."